Changing Paths
by AJAX087
Summary: When two Marines find themselves with no choice but to use a mysterious device in an ONI lab to escape the Covenant they end up being transported to Naboo only days before the invasion. Before Jane and Kate can relax however they have to deal with a deadly hitchhiker that followed them. With no way back they are forced to deal with the path before them.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

"THIS FUCKING SUCKS"

I would have laughed at the perfectly apt description that Jane shouted out for our current situation if I had the energy, but I was too concerned with running as fast as my legs could possibly carry me without falling down the mountain _and_ trying to doge the torrent of plasma that was being fired down on us. My lungs were burning as I pushed myself even harder, I looked over to Jane to see if she were keeping up; she almost looked like she was enjoying this as she ran beside her, god damn adrenaline junkie.

"Enjoying yourself?" I shouted over to her. Glancing at me, she let out a short laugh and said "Never felt more alive Kate!" she apparently had the energy to laugh...bitch. Looking forward again relief flooded my body as I saw that the bottom of the mountainside was nearing as well as our warthog.

The warthog in question exploded into a ball of green fire a second later, looking up I made out the shape of a banshee in the sky; it was peeling off after the attack run on our getaway car. Thinking quickly I called out to Jane.

"Head for the cave, we'll hide out there!" I shouted as we reached the bottom. Adjusting the sniper rifle on my back I made a straight beeline towards the opening while dodging fire from the mountainside. We had camped out in the cave the night before so I was hoping that it at least went on for a little ways into the mountain. Hopefully far enough to find a hiding place from the covenant. I heard the whine of the banshee as it came in for another attack run, my legs went into overdrive even as my muscles protested, the sheer need for survival overriding the pain. The cave was only a few more feet!

The Banshee fired its fuel rod gun; the green blob of plasma arced down towards the cave detonating just over the entrance and caving it in.

_24 hours earlier_

**Date:2527**

**Location: Outer Colony JSX-243, UNSC FIREBASE in Capitol city of Apito**

**Situation:FUBAR**

A moan escaped my lips as the steaming water cascaded down my body, loosening every sore and stiff muscle in my back. We had just returned from another mission in the city that went south. Ever since the covenant landed we were getting our asses handed to us in every engagement, pretty soon we wouldn't have enough troops to keep the city, never mind the planet. I gave a frustrated sigh as the water shut off, stupid five minute rule. Grabbing a towel I wrapped it around myself and moved towards the lockers, finding one with the nameplate**Isles.K **I opened it and pulled out a fresh set of fatigues and put them on. As I was tying my boots a private walked into the room and hurried over to where I was.

"Corporal Isles?"he asked me in a timid voice, yep this kid was as green as grass, then again I'm not so much more experienced.

"Thats me." I said, smiling at the private trying to assuage any fears.

"General Amstell wants you and Corporal Myers in the command post ASAP." my smile faded immediately. The General was an all around asshole to everything and everyone. He especially hated me and Jane, he thought the idea of women in the Corp was a disgrace to everything the military stood for, he had given me and Jane the whole 'women have no place on the battlefield' speech a couple times already. Personally I think he can go shove it were the sun don't shine. Smiling on that note I thanked the private and made my way towards the exit.

Making my way out of the Barracks and onto the streets of Apito, I shielded my eyes as the sun blinded me for a few seconds. Shaking it off I moved towards the hotel across the street which the marines had re-purposed into their barracks, why the hell should you sleep on uncomfortable bunks when you have five-star beds across the street.

Moving into the lobby I made my way up the stairs to the third floor heading to room 113. Nearing the room I could make out the distinctive moans of Jane. Muttering under my breath I didn't even bother knocking on the door, I just turned the handle and walked right in. The sight that greeted me was just about the same as all the others before; Jane with another woman tangled in the sheets of her bed.

"Jesus Christ.." I muttered under my breath rolling my eyes at the scene. I looked at the private below Jane, she was so out of it she hardly realized that their was another person in the room, such was the affect Jane had on other women in bed. She looked up at me with that look that just screamed 'this better be good or I'm gonna kill you'.

"The General wants to see us ASAP." I stated simply and then watched for the reaction. I was not disappointed when Jane scrambled from the bed cursing looking for her clothes in a frenzy. I looked down at the private still in the bed sheets, she seemed to have taken notice of me after Jane's apparently intoxicating presence had removed itself from her side. Her face was just about as red as a tomato but managed to recover some of her military training as she stood up with a sheet around her and gave a salute.

"At ease private." I said and returned the salute, while smiling at her disheveled appearance. Jane had finally put her clothes on and made her way back towards the private. She kissed her deeply and I had to practically pry her off the poor girl and drag her from the room.

"Fine, fine lets go see what General Sexist wants, wait for me sweetlips!" called out Jane to the private inside the room. Walking down the corridor with Jane at my side I asked "So what does this make it? five just this week?" "six." corrected Jane with a massive grin on her face.

"You should really try it Kate, let out that inner Mojo I know you have." I rolled my eyes and didn't even bother with a response as we made our way out of the lobby and towards the Firebase. I entered the base through one of the small hatches in the thick armor with Jane right on my tail. We made our way to the command center through all the small and cramped walkways in the base. Climbing up the ladder we made our way to another hatch labeled 'Command' opening the door I stepped into the center of the room on one side of the Holo-projector with Jane by my side. The General had his back turned to us looking out the window down at the assembled vehicles.

"General, Corporals Isles and Myers reporting as ordered." I said while performing a crisp salute, the general didn't even seem to take notice of our presence as we stood there still saluting. Finally he turned around and gave the two of us a lazy half salute.

"At ease ladies, and I use that term lightly Myers," he stated with disdain as he strolled over to the holo-projector. Jane just took it in stride and smiled at the general as he turned the projector on and brought up a topographical display of where the covenant base was located.

"I have a mission for the two of you; were getting our asses handed to us, plain and simple I need the two of you to kill the covenant forces Commander before they launch another offensive into the city. As much as I _hate_ to admit it you two are the best sniper team we have available which is damn sad considering the two of you are women." I was completely dumbstruck, had the General actually given us;two women a compliment? I looked to my right and saw that Jane was equally as shocked to hear that coming from _him._

"Sir you want us to go and kill the covie base Commander?" I asked as I repeated what he told us in my head one more time hardly believing the words.

"I'm sorry corporal I didn't know you were hard of hearing, That is exactly what I want you to do. I don't care if you have to shoot him from a mile away or stab the bastard with your knife, get the job done!" I tried not to wince as he almost yelled that last part.

"Now the two of you have access to whatever you need to get this job done, get geared up your rolling at 1700 sharp." taking that as a dismissal I saluted and promptly marched out of the room.

"Kate did you hear what he said; he actually gave us a compliment, and he wants _us_ to go assassinate the Covie base Commander." Jane was barely containing her excitement.

"I have to admit it is a bit shocking that hes giving us such a high priority mission considering his attitude towards women, but maybe he finally decided to read our files and see our previous combat experience. Even for him its hard not to recognize that were probably the two most experienced marines on the planet." It was true, me and Jane had been on Harvest when first contact was made, we barely escaped with our lives. Then we went back with the fleet to retake harvest under the command of Admiral Cole, the planet had been turned into hell in the year that we were gone. After serving a year there, we were transferred to another outer colony which the covenant had assaulted; after a few months of brutal combat the covenant glassed the planet and we were evacuated with the few remaining survivors of the civilian population. Now we were assigned to this place where we were once again getting our asses kicked.

"Yeah I know, but did you hear that other part; we have access to _whatever_ we need to get the job done." Jane was grinning like a madman. I had to suppress a groan as to what she could possibly plan to take with her on the mission. We had made it to the armory were there was everything you could possibly dream of. There was everything from combat knives to special forces tactical gear. Taking two duffel bags I placed them on the table on one side of the room then took a good look at the weapons rack on the other side of the room. After an hour of 'shopping' we had picked out our arsenal of destruction; it consisted of six M6C Magnums, two MA5B assault rifles, two M7/Caseless Submachine guns, two SRS-99AM sniper rifles, a special forces pack that had modifications for all their weapons and other goodies, a demolition kit; _that was_ _Jane's idea_, and finally one M99 Stanchion Gauss Rifle. We then donned fresh sets of armor, grabbed our helmets and set off towards the garage.

"I think we went a little over board with our choice of gear Jane, we're never gonna even use half of this stuff," I complained as I readjusted the heavy bag on my shoulder. Jane just gave me an exasperated look and then proceeded to explain "Of course we won't, but when are we gonna have unlimited access again? Probably never so we should take what we can while we can." I rolled my eyes at the explanation as we made it to a warthog, throwing our _extensive _amount of gear into the back I clambered into the drivers seat while Jane got on then turret. Starting the warthog up we slowly drove out of the base and onto the streets where General Amstell was waiting with his assistant. Stopping the warthog next to the general we waited for him to finish talking to his assistant.

"I want those mines in place by tomorrow.. Ah Corporal Isles, its about time. Reconnaissance shows the enemy gathering their forces for another assault, they'll be ready in three days time, thats how long you have to identify and kill their leader. Oh and if you fail ill personally see to it that you both are dishonorably discharged, that is if you survive." he threw that last comment over his shoulder as he walked away from us.

"One of these days I'm gonna clock that sexist bastard into next week," Jane said as she took out a Sweet Williams Cigar and lit it. "Yeah but then he would have an actual reason to discharge you from the military." I retorted as I started the warthog once again and took off down the street. Never the one to lose an argument Jane had a reply ready for my statement "Not unless I'm of a higher rank," conceding to the point I remained silent till we reached the edge of the city and started heading towards the mountains on the horizon.

"So Jane, what are your plans after the wars over?" I asked, trying to fill the silence that had stretched ever since we left the city. "I never really thought about it I guess, maybe find a girl and settle down, that is if this war ever ends. How about yourself Kate?" Personally I didn't see myself in the family life, maybe I'd just stay in the military. "I'd probably stay in the Military until I figured out what to do," Jane seemed contented with the answer. The rest of the trip was spent with a few conversations here and there until we arrived at the mountains. We had found a cave at the base of the mountains and decided to camp out there for the night before ascending the mountain the next morning. Jane had brought in the gear from the warthog as well as a burner which we were using to cook some food.. if you could even call it that. The 'food' was barely edible but then again MRE's wernt supposed to taste good. After I nights sleep on the cold and unforgiving ground, we hiked up the mountain with just one SRS-99AM sniper rifle and the M99 Stanchion Rifle which we planned to use to blow the Covenant Base commander's head clean off.

The hike up wasn't as hard as I thought it would be, we had just walked up the mountain instead of having to scale it. That was good news if we had to make a quick getaway. Almost at the top we dropped to our knees and crawled the last few feet and then onto our stomachs as we crested the rise. Below us was a massive covenant base; they had barracks, repair facilities, an airstrip, a main base complex, and finally to make matters worse; they had a shield generator surrounding the entire base.

"Great, were already fucked, the General didn't tell us anything about a shield, we don't have anything that can penetrate it!" I had to agree with Jane on two points; one we didn't have anything that would penetrate that shield and two the General would've known if there was a shield or not from the reconnaissance report. One thing was for sure, I was gonna have a nice long 'chat' with the General when we get back. "Just because they have a shield doesn't mean were screwed, we just have to be patient and wait until he goes and takes a piss... outside the shield of course." trying to lighten the situation with a joke didn't seem to work for Jane as she glowered at me then looked through the scope of her Gauss rifle.

"The least we can do is try and find the leader and see if an opportunity arises for us to take him out." I suggested as I propped my sniper rifle on its bipod.

"Way ahead of you Kate. Take a look at the north end of the airfield." looking through my scope sure enough tinted in blue was a gold Elite inspecting some of the banshee pilots.

"Track him." I ordered to Jane as we followed the Zealots movements all over the base for the next few hours; after the airfield he visited the barracks, then the repair facilities, and finally an hour ago he went into the main base complex and hadn't come out since.

The sun was starting to set when finally the Zealot reemerged from the main complex. "Kate, we got movement south side of the base." looking to where Jane had pointed out I saw a mass of troops and tanks assembling, checking the main airfield I saw that they were preparing their banshee's as well. They were mobilizing for an assault, the General's intel was off; they weren't launching the assault tomorrow, they were launching the assault today!

"Kate it looks like the Zealot is leading the assault himself." The Zealot in question had jumped onto one of the tanks with two ultras by his side as their army moved slowly out of the base. "Jane here's our chance, you take out the Zealot, ill take the two Ultras." Adrenaline started to pump through my system as I scoped in on the Ultra to the left of the tank. My finger drew closer to the trigger and I started the count down.

"Three...two...one...fire!"

The M99 Stanchion Gauss Rifle operated in the same fashion as the M68 Gauss Cannon that was usually mounted on the back of a warthog, both weapons were practically scaled down versions of the ship based MAC guns so when Jane pulled the trigger on her rifle a series of electromagnetic coils accelerated the 5.4mm/.21 caliber bullet to a velocity of 15000 meters per second which reached its target in less than a fraction of a second. Because of the rounds supersonic velocity when it hit its target it quite literally blew the Elite Zealot into pieces and continued on through the tank he was riding on effectively destroying it as well. Even though we pulled the trigger at the same time my bullet was just leaving the barrel of my rifle by the time Jane's had already buried itself several meters into the ground. Where Jane's rifle had power, mine had accuracy; my bullet rang true and put a clean hole through the head of the Ultra on the near side of the tank. Adjusting targets to the second Ultra I squeezed off another shot, unfortunately the time between switching targets was long enough for the other Ultra to dive for cover however the round managed to nick the Elite's shoulder before he could fully get behind the destroyed tank. Cursing under my breath I quickly got up and turned to run down the mountain. Jane had already slung her rifle and was a few feet ahead of me, mimicking her actions I too slung my weapon and followed her.

We maybe made it halfway to the bottom before we felt the ground shaking as the army of covenant reached the top of the mountain. It was mainly brutes and Elites that had made the distance in the short amount of time but we both knew the rest were almost to the top. Then they began to shoot at us as we dashed down the mountainside.

"THIS FUCKING SUCKS"

I would have laughed at the perfectly apt description that Jane shouted out for our current situation if I had the energy, but I was too concerned with running as fast as my legs could possibly carry me without falling down the mountain _and_ trying to doge the torrent of plasma that was being fired down on us. My lungs were burning as I pushed myself even harder, I looked over to Jane to see if she were keeping up; she almost looked like she was enjoying this as she ran beside her, god damn adrenaline junkie.

"Enjoying yourself?" I shouted over to her. Glancing at me, she let out a short laugh and said "Never felt more alive Kate!" she apparently had the energy to laugh...bitch. Looking forward again relief flooded my body as I saw that the bottom of the mountainside was nearing as well as our warthog.

The warthog in question exploded into a ball of green fire a second later, looking up I made out the shape of a banshee in the sky; it was peeling off after the attack run on our getaway car. Thinking quickly I called out to Jane.

"Head for the cave, we'll hide out there!" I shouted as we reached the bottom. Adjusting the sniper rifle on my back I made a straight beeline towards the opening while dodging fire from the mountainside. We had camped out in the cave the night before so I was hoping that it at least went on for a little ways into the mountain. Hopefully far enough to find a hiding place from the covenant. I heard the whine of the banshee as it came in for another attack run, my legs went into overdrive even as my muscles protested, the sheer need for survival overriding the pain. The cave was only a few more feet!

The Banshee fired its fuel rod gun; the green blob of plasma arced down towards the cave detonating just over the entrance and caving it in.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2:

_Present Time_

I let out a ragged cough as I tried to take in a breath, looking around I saw that I had made it into the cave but just barely. I was twisting my head from left to right looking to see if Jane had made it. I started to panic when I couldn't find her within my sight, quickly trying to get up I found that something heavy was on my back preventing me from getting up. Moving my hands to my back I started to feel the object to see what it was, however that ended very quickly when I heard a moan of pleasure emitted from said object a second later. Finding out who rather than what was on my back I redoubled my efforts to get up. Jane rather unhappily rolled off of my back.

"Oh why'd you have to stop I was just starting to enjoy that." Jane complained as I was dusting my self off.

"That's because I don't share in your 'taste'." I replied as I checked the rifle on my back.

"Oh so if I were a dude you would have kept going?" I rolled my eyes, only she would ask that question.

"Keep dreaming Jane." I replied as I retrieved a flashlight from my vest and turned it on. I began searching around the cavern for our duffel bags that we had stowed in the cave last night, eventually I found them under a pile of rubble and bent over to try and lift up the rocks covering them. Looking back at Jane I saw her just standing on the other side of the cave staring in my direction.

"Well are you gonna help out or what?" I asked, Jane seemed to snap out of whatever trance she was in and started to slowly walk towards me while voicing an apology.

"Sorry Kate, I was just admiring the view." she added that last part with a smirk.

That put a scowl on my face as she also bent over and helped me lift some of the rocks off our gear. Once we had uncovered the duffel bags I took one while Jane grabbed the other. I stopped my actions as I heard something; it was very quiet but I knew it was there. "Jane do you hear that?" I asked. Jane looked at me and then held her hand to her ear in that trademark way to try and hear something. We both listened as the noise got louder, it sounded like digging. My blood ran cold as I realized the Covenant were coming in after us, Jane must have come to this conclusion as well for she had dropped her duffel bag and was searching in it for something.

"Jane what are you doing? We need to get out of here." I asked as the digging got louder. Jane pulled a can out of the bag, on the side it read; C-7 Foaming Explosive.

"Oh me? I'm just giving the Covenant a gift of my appreciation. They are after all trying to dig us out of here." Jane said sarcastically to my question. She then sprayed the foam on the right side of the cave wall and stuck a detonator into the hardened blob of explosive foam and then ran a trip wire from the detonator to one of the rocks blocking the entrance way. If the cord was tripped or lost tension in the wire.. well lets just say the covenant are going to really appreciate Jane's gift. Making sure the wire was set Jane armed the detonator and then closed up her bag and slung it over her shoulder then turned to me.

"Well I say we get as far away as possible before the covenant get through those rocks." said Jane. I gave a simple nod as I strapped my sniper rifle and my duffel bag across my back and drew the M6C Magnum on my right leg and instead of also taking out the one on my left leg I opted for my flashlight and wielded them tactical style. Jane opted for one of the M7S submachine guns with a flashlight already attached to it. We then set off into the depths of the cave searching for another exit or at the very least a place to hide from the covenant.

XxXxXxX

Outside of the cave the covenant forces were digging at an alarming rate, they had a hunter pair as well as at least a half a dozen Brutes digging through the blocked cave entrance. The remaining Sangheili Ultra was a few meters away having his wound attended to by one of the healers in their base while he plotted the slow and painful death of the two humans that had assassinated his Zealot superior and his Counterpart. They had also tried to take his life but the shot only tore though his shoulder.

'_Oh yes_' he thought '_these two will pay dearly for.._' any further train of thought was cut off as the cave entrance blew open in a massive explosion. Both hunters and four of the Brutes were instantly incinerated while the other two were severely injured having been further away transporting rocks out of the way.

XxXxXxX

We had been walking down the seemingly endless cave for about an hour now when we finally heard it. The sound of a distant explosion echoed through the cave as me and Jane whirled around and pointed our weapons in the direction we had come.

"How long?" I asked

"20 minutes, 30 tops if we run." Jane answered nonchalantly.

We looked at each other for a couple seconds and then immediately set off at a sprint away from the covenant forces no doubt now swarming into the cave after us. After about ten minutes of running we had reached a fork in the road. The tunnel split off in two directions, not wanting to stop I voiced my opinion on which path to take.

"Right."

"Left."

We had spoken at the same time both choosing separate paths. There were times when I wish I was the one with a higher rank instead of being on the same level with Jane. Now there was something that would _never _happen considering we did everything together so we got rewarded the same thing always.

Thinking quickly I held out my fist towards Jane. She looked at me not understanding for a couple seconds and then realized what I was doing. She rolled her eyes and reluctantly held out her fist. We moved them up and down three times and then revealed our choices; I chose paper while Jane chose rock.

"I win." I smiled and playfully slapped her on the shoulder and set off down the right tunnel. "You cheated." Jane called out as she followed behind me.

We had maybe gone maybe twenty feet before we came to something that piqued both of our interests; at the end of the right path was a metal door with the ONI emblem on it. I looked at Jane and saw that her expression of confusion mirrored my own. What was an ONI facility doing here?

Me and Jane moved forward towards the door. I grabbed the doors handle with my right hand and gripped my weapon with the other. Looking at Jane for confirmation she nodded at me and I thrust the door forward as we both charged into the room. Sweeping through we checked the entire room and found no other door.

"Clear." I called out, Jane echoed my statement as we met in the center of the room. It was pitch dark in the room, the only illumination coming from our flashlights. Looking back at the entrance I saw a light switch next to the door and flicked it on. The room flooded with light as the overhead florescent bulbs flickered to life. Three of the rooms four walls had desks and shelves lining them while the wall opposite the entryway had a ring in front of it. Moving closer to the object it was shaped like a pentagon; it was resting on stilts at a 45 degree angle. Its casing was made up of some sort of silver metal that didn't resemble UNSC type metals. I looked and noticed that a covering was removed from the object and some big wires were running from it to a UNSC console adjacent to the object.

Moving to the console there was a big red button in the middle of it as well as smaller buttons surrounding it. Moving my hand I went to push the big red button when Jane's hand snapped out and caught mine before it hit the button.

"What are you doing? That thing could blow us up for all we know." I stared at Jane and replied,

"Yeah, like that thing looks anything like a bomb." I removed my hand from the button and looked around for a couple of seconds thinking of what to do.

"Jane go seal the door, I'll look for anything that might tell us what this thing is." Jane walked towards the door as I strode to the desk on the right wall.

"We shouldn't stay here long if we hope to evade the Covena-AHH." My head jerked towards Jane as I heard her let out a cry of pain; she had a spiker round in her leg and another one piercing her left side where her armor didn't cover. Jane managed to lift her submachine gun and return fire through the doorway as I grabbed the back of her armor and dragged her away from the door. Letting go of her I pulled a grenade off of my vest and threw it through the door. A second later the grenade detonated and I was rewarded with a roar of pain as I slammed the door shut and put the bar lock on it. Moving to the desk I shoved it in front of the door. Jane had managed to get up and was trying to topple one of the shelves on top of the desk. I went over and helped and it fell on top of the desk adding to the impromptu barricade.

"This fucking sucks." Jane hissed out in pain as I helped her over to the desk next to the device we had found in the room. Setting her down I examined the extent of the damage. "I can't treat this right now, if I remove the spikes you'll bleed out." Giving her the prognoses I took her submachine gun and reloaded it and then gave it back and preceded to do the same with my pistol. We could hear the covenant ramming the door at this point. The barricade wouldn't hold for long.

"Like that's gonna happen, the covenant are gonna kill us the second that door comes down." Jane said. I frantically looked around for anything; an exit we missed, something that could get us out of this, that's when my eyes landed on it.

"Not if I have anything to say about it." Jane looked at me questioningly as I moved over to the console that was hooked up tho the device.

"But what if it blows us up?" Jane said

"Then we take them with us." Was my reply as my hand pushed the big red button.

I waited for a few seconds, my shoulders slumped when nothing happened.

"Thats it? I at least expected something." Questioned Jane after she had cracked one eye open. I was personally defeated at this point. Fine if I was going to die then I'm going out firing. I took both of my pistols out of their holsters and pointed them at the door. Jane managed to get up and stand by my side with her machine gun. It wasn't going to be much against brutes and Elites. The bar lock had popped of the door, I tightened my grip.

A strange hissing started sounding in the room. The lights started to dim as if power were being drawn from them. I turned around as a red colored light started flickering behind me. There was a sort of red lightning arcing across the casing of the object, hope fluttered into the bottom of my stomach as the lightning increased and started to coalesce into the center of the pentagon. Suddenly it formed into a flat opaque red disk. I glanced at Jane, she too was staring at it. At that moment the Covenant had finally smashed the door open. I immediately started firing off both my pistols as I backpedaled towards the device. Jane was mimicking me but even through our combined firepower the covenant were pouring into the room. Just as we were about to hit the device we both jumped backwards into the red opening and the world disappeared around me.

XxXxXxX

The Elite Ultra had led the charge into the room and witnessed the humans run towards a strange red circle on the far side of the room. One of their rounds had hit his shield as he raised his plasma rifle and fired at the humans as they jumped into the circle. His rounds struck the device where there were some cables coming out, it immediately started to spark and a whine came out of the device and was starting to rise in volume. The Elite realized with growing dread that it was going to overload and started to run towards it. He had covered the distance in a few strides and dived in just as the whine hit its crescendo and exploded.

XxXxXxX

**Date: 32 BBY**

**Location: Theed Royal Palace, Throne Room**

Padme Amidala's P.O.V.

"If you do not accept these terms your highness more drastic measures will be used to put an end to this..disagreement." said Viceroy Gunray, the hairs on the back of my neck raised at the obvious threat.

"If that is a threat than we both know you can not commit any hostile action without intervention from the Republic Viceroy." My voice was surprisingly calm given the fact that if the Viceroy decided to carry out his threat there was little the Republic could do to help my people within any reasonable amount of time.

"We shall see." With that the transmission was ended. It were times like these when the headdress adorned upon my head was at its heaviest. Here I was the newly minted Queen of Naboo and already I was knee deep in a situation that was spiraling out of my control. The Viceroy of the Trade Federation had tried to take advantage of our plasma mining operations since the taxation of the trade routes made it harder for them to do business and now that we had found out that he was cheating the people of Naboo we had refused to do business with them. Now they were threatening to invade and take our precious resource from us. The situation seemed dire but I will not commit to a path that will lead my people to war.

"Your highness I recommend we contact Coruscant for aid, negotiations are not going as well as we anticipated." I had to concur with Governor Bibble's recommendation, at this point negotiations were going nowhere.

"It seems that we have no other choice, very well Governor send a message to the Chancel-" a strange electrical hissing reverberated in the room and drew my attention. I looked up to the ceiling of the Throne room and saw the source of the noise; there was a sort of red lightning arcing in thin air. The noise got louder and the electricity increased in speed until with a snap it coalesced into a red sort disk hanging just twenty feet off the floor. The guards drew their Blasters when it snapped into life. A moment later two figures came falling through the red portal. As they fully materialized loud shots echoed around the chamber. They were firing into the portal that they had just come out of. They must have realized they were in free fall for I heard one utter a curse and a second later they both hit the ground with an impressive thud.

My advisers had fled from their seats as the pair had made their landing in the center of the throne room, maybe a dozen feet from my desk. As they attempted to get up I noticed that one of them was injured for there was a spike like object protruding from her side and leg and there was a steady flow of blood coming from the injuries. Once they had stood up they seemed to have realized that there were over a dozen weapons pointed at them, before the situation could turn violent I addressed them.

"I'm Queen Amidala of the Naboo, who are you?" I questioned as I raised myself from my throne. A tense silence passed for a few seconds when the figure on the right spoke up first.

"I'm Corporal Isles of the UNSC and this is Corporal Myers, wha-" the portal started to flicker above cutting the Corporal off in mid sentence. A second later another thing emerged from it and executed a graceful flip in mid air and landed on its feet. The two corporals managed to dodge it as it landed. The creature raised itself from the ground, it was massive. The thing easily stood at eight feet and was covered from head to to toe in a silver armor which looked incredibly advanced. The two corporals were between me and the beast that had just appeared. Above the portal flickered out of existence as the creature noticed it was in a room full of humans, then it eyes landed on me. A cold spike of fear coursed through my body as it stared at me.

One of the corporals had cursed and they both raised their weapons at it and started to fire. When their weapons impacted the rounds seemed to be deflected by an energy shield. The massive alien moved with an unexpected speed that belayed its size and knocked both of the corporals weapons out of their hands. It then gripped the Corporal Myers by the throat with one of its massive hands and viciously kicked the other Corporal back towards my desk. She impacted the edge of the marble desk and slumped down unmoving. The creature then tossed Myers to the floor and drew a device from its leg. It had two parts on it that were interconnected by a handle where the alien was gripping it from. The alien pointed it at me and then squeezed the trigger. Energy seemed to rapidly build between these two prongs until it unleashed a blue bolt of light. The world seemed to slow down as a blue bolt raced towards me, it seemed that my fate was sealed until at the last second a blur had moved in front of me and had stopped the deadly bolt from ending my life.

From the force of the impact my savior skidded to a stop on top of my desk just in front of me, now I could tell who saved me; it was Corporal Isles who now lay on my desk with a burning wound on her chest. Looking up the alien seemed frustrated that his shot missed but before he could fire another shot Corporal Myers had jumped onto his back from behind. She ripped the spike from her side and was savagely stabbing the monster in the neck repeatedly. It fell to its knees but managed to throw the Corporal over its shoulder. It removed the spike and the wound was bleeding purple blood as he tried to cover it. My guards had a clear shot now and took full advantage. Over a dozen blasters fired and riddled the beast. It keeled over finally succumbing to its wounds. I rushed to the front of my desk to check the Corporal, whatever that weapon fired it had seemed to have melted through her armor and reached the vulnerable skin underneath.

"Captain summon the medics." I ordered, the captain used his comlink and summoned the medics as the guards surrounded the alien, making sure it was dead . A minute later a group of medics rushed into the room. The lead medic asked first if I was injured, I quickly told them to attend to the one sprawled on top of my desk.

"Do everything in your power to save her doctor, she saved my life." The doctor redoubled his efforts as him and his team of medics moved with blurring speed. Corporal Myers had moved over to her compatriots side, looking at everything the medics were doing. By the grim look on her face I knew the chances for the Corporal to live were slim.

"We need to take her to the medical ward immediately." I nodded my consent to the medic as they brought a stretcher and moved the Corporal onto it. Corporal Myers was by her side the entire time and didn't seem at all perturbed by her wound which was now bleeding freely. Time seemed to stop its frantic pace of the last couple of minutes as the adrenaline left my system. I watched as the group left the Throne room, my Handmaidens came to my side to see if I was alright, I dismissed them with a wave of my hand and turned my attention to Captain Panaka as he and his guards were hovering over the corpse of the Alien. It seemed extremely hostile and had taken a particular interest in me once it had surveyed the room. I would have to ask our other 'guests' about it, and with any luck I would have the chance to thank the one who had saved my life assuming she survived.

XxXxX

A/N: Hope you guys are enjoying so far, this is my first story so any feedback is more than appreciated as well as any ideas you might have. Thanks :)


End file.
